# How can I tell if a calabash gourd is real calabash?



## archie2 (Dec 5, 2013)

I recently bought a calabash pipe at an ebay auction. The insert is thick walled genuine pressed meerschaum which only looked like it was smoked a couple of times. The bowl had never been smoked. On one side of the gourd the words "Real Calabash" are indented. It was posted as being vintage and it is in brand new condition, no evidence of ever having been smoked on the inside. I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth but to find a real calabash gourd in pristine condition is rare. The only red flag is that the outside has a hard shiny coating, as if it is encased in a thin plastic protective shell. The gourd itself is thin walled and the corking is very well done. It also has the ribbed or ripple marks inside I've seen in other calabash pipes. Has anyone had experience or knowledge of true calabash gourds with a hard shiny outer coating?

BTW, I'm a newbie to this site and this is my 1st post, although I've been a lurker for several months.


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## Broklynite (Oct 3, 2013)

"genuine pressed meerschaum" Doesn't that mean that it's meerschaum dust and glue? Seems curious to combine together...


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## TAB (Dec 5, 2013)

Broklynite said:


> "genuine pressed meerschaum" Doesn't that mean that it's meerschaum dust and glue? Seems curious to combine together...


It's actually not all that uncommon. With bashes, the bowl is ideally replaced from time to time since it's just an insert. The trick these days is finding one that fits. Most modern bashes are made with solid meer bc ppl probably won't replace them, like a meer pipe.

As for it being shiny or whatnot, again it was common to put shellac or whatever on them to make them a bit more durable.


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## archie2 (Dec 5, 2013)

Broklynite said:


> "genuine pressed meerschaum" Doesn't that mean that it's meerschaum dust and glue? Seems curious to combine together...


Yes, pressed meerschaum is made from meerschaum sawdust and glue and is commonly used in calabash type pipes. I have 2 other calabash pipes with block meerschaum inserts and one with a pressed meerschaum insert.


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## archie2 (Dec 5, 2013)

TAB said:


> It's actually not all that uncommon. With bashes, the bowl is ideally replaced from time to time since it's just an insert. The trick these days is finding one that fits. Most modern bashes are made with solid meer bc ppl probably won't replace them, like a meer pipe.
> 
> As for it being shiny or whatnot, again it was common to put shellac or whatever on them to make them a bit more durable.


Ah, it probably is shellac. I forgot about that. The pipe I bought is curious to me because I don't think the insert and the bowl were originally matched. The bowl was never smoked and the insert was smoked only a few times. The insert is also a poor fit to the bowl evidenced by air leaks and it doesn't overhang the bowl which makes me think that one or the other were replaced. It's a large insert and an large bowl measuring 2 1/2 inches OD and a shade over 1 1/2 inches ID. I fashioned a temporary gasket with a narrow strip of blue painters masking tape on the insert and it draws just fine now. After several smoked bowls the gasket shows no sign of burn marks and I cannot taste it. It'll do until I find some thin cork strips.


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## MarkC (Jul 4, 2009)

Help me out, here, Raymond. What is this "insert"? I'll admit, I haven't had a calabash pipe for about 35 years, but I have no idea what you're talking about. When you say the bowl was unsmoked and the insert was only smoked a couple of times, my brain just won't process it.


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## archie2 (Dec 5, 2013)

MarkC said:


> Help me out, here, Raymond. What is this "insert"? I'll admit, I haven't had a calabash pipe for about 35 years, but I have no idea what you're talking about. When you say the bowl was unsmoked and the insert was only smoked a couple of times, my brain just won't process it.


A Sherlock Holmes type true calabash pipe consists of a bowl made from the calabash gourd (most desirable) or African mahogany or briar. It is fitted with a meerschaum or porcelain insert that fits inside the bowl. The big advantage to this design is a large air chamber that cools, mellows and tames the smoke before it reaches the stem. The name calabash was taken from the calabash gourd but now several pipes are made in the style of the calabash that are not true calabash eg. no air chamber, no removable insert. So now calabash can refer to a real calabash or a pipe style which can include pipes with the calabash design but no air chamber and no insert. These pipes are also called Sherlock Holmes pipes which is a misnomer. Sherlock Holmes never smoked such a pipe. But actors playing Sherlock Holmes in the movies did.

On the pipe I just bought the bowl (calabash gourd) was unsmoked but the insert (meerschaum) was only very lightly smoked. Think of a bowl inside a bowl. The insert is removable in order to clean the main bowl (gourd). On my pipe it's unclear why someone would change out a lightly smoked insert to an unsmoked gourd or vice versa unless they bought or found the separate pieces and made a pipe. You would think that both the insert and the bowl would be smoked to the same degree. I can't complain though. I got a very nice calabash for cheap.


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## MarkC (Jul 4, 2009)

Okay, I see. I think most people call the meer part "the bowl", not "the insert". It is the portion of the pipe that contains the tobacco chamber, after all.


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## archie2 (Dec 5, 2013)

MarkC said:


> Okay, I see. I think most people call the meer part "the bowl", not "the insert". It is the portion of the pipe that contains the tobacco chamber, after all.


Could be. I've always heard the meerschaum part referred to as the insert because it is inserted into the bowl. Otherwise what do you call the part of the pipe between the meer and the stem? There are a lot of calabash style pipes carved from block meerschaum, no insert, no air chamber, different design, but they look like Sherlock Holmes calabash pipes. It becomes important when buying a calabash because both the insert and the bowl can vary in composition and in price. If you look on that auction site you will find many sellers saying their calabash pipe has a meer insert when it may or not be real calabash and might be a porcelain insert. Big difference in price between a real meer in a real calabash and a porcelain in a briar or a porcelain in a real calabash. You're taking a chance. Personally I like to know what the insert is made of and what the bowl is made of. But technically speaking you are right, you put the tobacco in the bowl. It can be confusing. Just my 2 cents FWIW.


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## Commander Quan (May 6, 2003)

If you look at the curved part of the gourd, the lines that run the length of the gourd should curve with the gourd. Pipes that are made from mahogany or another wood will always run straight. 

There is a huge difference between a gourd and a carved calabash shaped pipe, and if your holding it there should be no doubt if it's one or the other. It's possible a pipe could be made of plastic, especially if it's coming from ebay, but that would be instantly recognizable as well. 

On a true calabash, the material that the bowl/cup/insert or whatever you want to call it is made of isn't as big of a deal, other than if it's pressed meer or porcine it won't color the same way as block meerschaum.


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## archie2 (Dec 5, 2013)

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by lines.


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## Commander Quan (May 6, 2003)

When you look at the curved portion of this pipe the lines/grain/marking curve with the pipe.









With something that is carved into a gourd shape the lines will all run straight.









Also if you look inside of a gourd it's completely hollow inside the whole body of the pipe.
A carved calabash shaped pipe has the part carved out where the cup goes, but that is it the rest of the body of the pipe is solid wood with a draft hole running from the stem to the cup.


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## archie2 (Dec 5, 2013)

OK, I think I know what you mean. I have 4 calabash style pipes, all are hollow the entire body of the pipe. Two of them have carvings on the bodies which I believe to be made of briar. The two others look like the one you have in your first picture. The two with carvings have stems that line up almost on center with the bowl. The plain ones, including the one I just bought, have the stem curving off to the left of center with the bowl because that's where the body is curving after the main curve. So are my plain ones calabash gourd? One is marked Real Calabash but I wasn't sure it referred to the style or composition of the body.

I agree that the composition of the insert makes little difference in how the pipe smokes. But porcelain is heavier and gets much hotter than meerschaum making the pipe top heavy and hot to handle. A matter of preference.


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## Jon DeCles (Mar 25, 2016)

Just out on the net looking for replacements for the two calabash pipes that burned when my house burned down. They were the best smoking pipes I ever had. BUT, the reason I got them was because I spend a lot of time playing Mark Twain: and during his lifetime was was not identified so much with his cigars (about which he talked a lot) but with a pipe: and the one we see him smoking, in many photographs, is the calabash. It was even frequently featured in cartoons of him. So, while Sherlock Holmes did not smoke a calabash, Mark Twain did. Just thought folks might like to know.


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